Wish Granted
by Chobbit Android29
Summary: I should really learn to shut my mouth. Who would have thought that a wish in the dark would prove to be such a dangerous thing? Now that I finally got what I wanted, I realize that I've been nothing but selfish and self centered, so the question is: will I be able to do better this time around? AU, rating might change to M (we'll see), warning: angst
1. Chapter 1

I blinked a few times as I was opening my eyes only to find myself lying on the floor in a very messy room that was definitely not my own; granted my room was also messy but still this wasn't mine. I noticed broken mirrors, toys and furnitures and as I looked around I could hear voices coming from the other side of the door. Being careful not to step on any broken... anything really, I made my way through the room.

As soon as I opened the door I automatically covered my nose and mouth: the living room/kitchen that I found myself in smelled awful. It smelled like dirty socks put in a zip lock bag and left to rot under the heat of the summer sun.

The room was relatively brighter than the one I was previously in so my eyes took a few seconds to adjust. As they did though, I noticed the familiar mess and general filth of my surroundings. There were bottles and empty cans scattered everywhere, broken plates, empty pizza boxes and weeks old take out food that was definitely contributing to the smell. At the center of the room were three people talking, one of them sitting on an old, moldy sofa in front of an equally old , seriously outdated looking television. As I move towards them I accidently knock off one of the bottles with my... knee? Making a seemingly deafening sound as the bottle falls, bringing the others nearby down with it.

All three adults turned around to see me staring at my knee with burrowed eyebrows and a confused expression. Then the man sitting on the sofa shot up from his seat, gaining back my attention.

"You..." he whispered with relief on his face that was quickly replaced with confusion and... fear: "b-but you..." he said trembling with his hand gripping his short greying hair and his eyes wide open.

"You were-!" he shrieked as he tried to come to me while one of the two restricted him. The one who was farther away, the woman, swiftly walked towards me while the other said something on his radio while keeping an eye and a hand on the now handcuffed, shocked man.

She knelt in front of me and gently placed her hand on my chin, tilting my head from side to side.

"It's going to be alright" she said as she pressed a clean handkerchief on the side of my forehead.  
I felt a sting and winced as I brought my hand to where my temple is, only to feel something wet and warm on my fingers... blood?

For the first time I was aware of the growing pain that seems to be expanding all over my body. Seeming to notice my realization, she looked at me with a reassuring smile.

"Can you tell me your name, sweetie?"

Name? My name is... "Ecli" I said and was surprised by the voice that came out of my mouth.

It was high pitched and a bit squeaky and frankly, way too young to be mine.


	2. Chapter 2

Panic didn't even begin to describe how I was feeling. I didn't know where I was, how I got here and why was this lady so much bigger than I?!

The room started spinning as I hyperventilated: it felt like oxygen was about to run out and my vision became blurry. My head injury, however grave, was not helping with the situation. "Sweetie, are you allright?", the lady asked me placing her other hand on my shoulder with a concerned look on her face.

At least that's what I think she looked like: it was kind of hard to distinguish the person talking to me by looking at overlapping images of her.

I tried to tell her that I was fine and to remove her hands from me as I stepped backwards and accidently tripped and fell like a sack of potatoes over one of the bottles on the floor. I heard muffled voices as everything around me slowly went black.

_"Fermati! Fermo!" I screamed, as fat tears ran down my cheeks. The air was thick with the scent of alcohol and the sound of someone being beaten stopped as I pleaded._

_"Non avete alcun rispetto per me!" shouted the man who was currently standing in front of me and all of a sudden the fear that I was feeling vanished, replacing it with anger and hatred._

_"Stai facendo male a mia madre" I growled through clenched teeth, the knuckles on my fists turning white._

_"Come faccio ad avere rispetto per te" I said "Quando quella è mia madre!", pointing at the beaten woman lying on the floor._

_He looked at me, his eyes red with anger: "E io non sono tuo Padre?!" he asked before storming out of the house, leaving me to help my mother pick herself up from the floor, her face covered with bruises._

I blinked a few times as I tried to take in my new surroundings. I stared at the blinding white light on the ceiling as my eyes filled with tears at the thought of my dream. I realized that I was in a hospital room as my wounds were bandaged and a tired but cheerful looking nurse was walking towards my bed.

"Hello there, are you hungry?" I shook my head.

"Ok, well, you just ask me if you need anything, right?" I don't think he really wanted me to answer so instead I looked around the tiny room in which I found myself, noticing the absence of the giant woman. "Excuse me..." I said, looking back at the nurse.

"Yes?"

"Where's the lady that brought me here?"

"Oh, you mean officer Holy? She had to go back to the police station to organize some papers for you. She'll be back soon"

I nodded and said:"Ok" to the nurse as he left.

As soon as he closed the door I took off the I.V. and went to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror.

I was shocked: I looked younger, probably 7 years younger than my age with the same black hair, black eyes, slightly tanned skin and small stature. I had bandages around my head and there were red hand marks on my neck. I tried to get closer to the mirror to observe them better when I heard three knocks on the bathroom door: "Sweetie, are you there?"

"Yes!" I said as I opened the door. There was the giant lady, Holy, standing in front of me.

"How are you feeling?"

"'m fine" I said and she smiled warmly at me. It was then that I noticed a middle aged woman standing by the door of my hospital room with a stern look on her face.

"Hello..." I said waving my hand awkwardly at her.

Her eyes softened slightly as she smiled: "Hello to you, too" she said crossing the room and extending her hand. I shook it.

"Ecli, this is Beverly Clinter. She's the matron of the community you'll be staying in from now on", said Holy kneeling on the floor so that we were eye to eye with one another: "I know what happened to you was scary but Beverly will take good care of you, you're safe now."

What happened to me? I thought as I reached for the bandages and the red marks on my neck. What did happen to me?

I could only guess what happened to the body that I was in, but what about me? I thought to myself as I tried to take deep breaths sensing a panic attack coming. What is the last thing that I remember?

Just trying to remember caused a striking and sudden pain in my head that made me fall to the ground and the corner of my eye I could see Beverly looking for a nurse while Holy was crouching near me trying to calm me down.


	3. Chapter 3

Warning: Child abuse and violence

_"Daddy, stop!" I said wailing as a man makes his way menacingly towards me,_

_"Where do you think you're going?!" he said grabbing my hair as I tried to get away from him: "You know..." he said pulling my hair making me look at him with tear filed eyes: "This is all your fault" and for some reason I felt like he wasn't talking about the broken plate._

_"You hear me?!" he shouted squeezing my neck with his other hand: "All your fault!" he said as he banged my head to the nearest wall._

_"All your fault! All your fault! ALL YOUR FAULT!"_

_I tried to look at him, tears and blood streaming down my face: "Dad...dy" I choked and that seems to snap him out of his rage making him drop me to the floor. He covers his mouth with his hand: "Oh, my god..." he said but the damage was done. My eyelids felt heavy and as everything begins to darken I could hear the sound of the doorbell ringing._

I woke up on the hospital bed with a sense of deja vu, only this time instead of the nurse were three people around my bed. The doctor presented herself and was talking about me going into shock and something about PTSD, but I was too distracted to pay her any attention.

I kept thinking about that dream...

Was it this body's memory? Because I'm pretty sure nothing like that happened to me.

Is that what happened to this girl? Did she...d- nope, not gonna think about that I thought as I covered my ears and shut my eyes in a futile attempt to shield myself from my own thoughts.

Everyone in the room stopped to stare at me.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked. I slowly opened my eyes and took away my hands from my ears and nodded.

"Maybe we should have this discussion later, she seems to be tired" Beverly, bless her soul, said.

The doctor smiled: "alright she says softly before leaving.

I looked at Beverly and Holy: "When will I be discharged?"

"The doctor said it will be at least two days until they're sure that you're completely fine" I nod and at that moment my stomach decided to grumble. Loudly.

Holy chuckled while I turned red out of embarrassment. "I'll go ask if there's something for you to eat" she said exiting the room and leaving Beverly and I alone.

There was an awkward silence between us or at least it felt like that for me.

I've never had difficulty socializing with adults twice or thrice my age but I always found starting a conversation with a person that I barely knew difficult. I mean how was I supposed to do this? Should I say hello again? What are we even supposed to talk about?

"Ecli..." Beverly said and suddenly I notice her staring at me.

"I'm not gonna lie, what happened to you is something that, sadly, happens to a lot of children in this city. I know that you might be a little too young to understand this but, this means that life isn't fair. It also means that you are not alone in this experience. This might be a cynical way to look at it but you're not alone, Ecli, and it's sad and comforting at the same time."

It took me a moment to realize that she was trying to console me, in her own way.

And it took me another moment for the things she said to actually sink in.

What happened to me, what happened to this child, is happening to millions of children out there. And I'll be damned if I don't do anything about it.


	4. Chapter 4

Those were my first experiences in this body. Looking back it was almost just a blur of panicking and fainting.

Not my proudest moments, I'll admit, but I was completely justified. I mean what would you do if you suddenly woke up in a body that wasn't yours without knowing where you were or how you got there?

So yeah, justified.

Anyway, it's been two weeks since I made the resolution of helping children like me and two weeks since they sent me with Beverly to the community, which was obviously an orphanage because where else would you send a parentless child who's also victim of abuse?

Honestly, this new life was bordering on absolute cliché. Also, let me tell you: life in an orphanage was not the best. I mean, they don't mistreat us or anything (because Beverly would never allow it) and, all in all, Saint Mary's orphanage was quite better kept and adjusted than most orphanages. Not that I've ever been in any other orphanage before.

It's just... there was this air of constant, although not very prominent, sadness everywhere. Sure the children played and laughed and joked with one another but the bottom line was: everyone here just saw way too much than they had any right to see or go through for that matter. Let's consider this reason number one as to why life in an orphanage was no fun.

I was then abruptly brought out of my thoughts when I felt two hands push me to the ground. "Lo and behold! Bullies!", reason number two of my misery.

No, seriously! Kids can be very vicious when they want to. I mean you tell them you don't wanna play with them one time and suddenly you get marked as a weirdo for life.

"Look who's here, It' sickly Ecli" said the chubby kid, Michael, in mock surprise.

"Did you break any bones while falling, sickly Ecli?" taunted the tall but thin one, Ralph.

"Cut it out guys or she's going to cry and ask for Ms. Clinter's help like a baby" mocked the short one, Tom.

You see, after the whole ordeal in the hospital I tried to remember what happened to me again and again causing unbearable migraines that got me stuck in bed for an entire week. Obviously all the adults were quite worried so they paid more attention to me than to other kids and apparently this didn't sit well with those three.

"Hey! We're talking to you!" said Michael as he grabbed my hair with his chubby hands to make me look at him. This brought back unpleasant memories that I'd rather not be remembering right now.

I glared at him.

"Ooh, is sickly Ecli gonna fight back?"

"We'd like to see ya try" said Ralph as he smiled wickedly at me.

I was really starting to lose my patience at this point.

"Please take your hands off me" I whispered

"What's that? We can't hear you over your whimpering" taunted Michael as he brought my face closer to his ear. I was definitely not whimpering.

"I said" and here I grabbed his pulse digging my nails through it: "Take your hands off me" I growled as I twisted his arm making him let go of me.

Michael shrieked in pain and the other two hurled themselves on me to try to free their friend. They Kicked and punched and I gave as much as I got.

Maybe fighting with a bunch of kids wasn't such a good or mature thing to do but I was really stressed with everything that was happening so I may have used them as a let out.

Man, it felt good.

Eventually an adult showed up and broke up the fight sending us all to Beverly's office to get scolded. They punished us by making us wash the dishes and clean the courtyard.

The former workload was assigned to me and the rest to the other three.

While washing the dishes I had a lot of time to myself to think about what I've done. I was supposed to be helping children not beating them up!

I really should have been the mature one in that situation. I should've just let it go. It's awfully embarrassing to admit that I let a bunch of kids get to me and over such a trivial matter to boot!

Ugh! I feel awful!

I sighed as I dried off the last plate. That's when I heard two of the adults talking about the situation in the city.

I dropped the plate and started trembling. They both turned around towards me asking me what was wrong, but I was too shaken to answer. Seeing me in this state one of them decided to lead me to my tiny room, as what they said kept on playing in my head. It couldn't be right, could it? Because I'm pretty sure I heard them saying that the city that we found ourselves in was Gotham...


	5. Chapter 5

In the silence and solitude of my room thoughts came flooding in as I lied down on my lumpy bed. I thought of what my life had become, I thought about my family and my friends. They must be worried sick. I mean, I'm worried sick and they're not even the ones who disappeared or quite possibly in a coma right now.

I've always been a control freak when it comes to people I care about. I'm not possessive or anything, I just really liked being near them in case something happens, whether good or bad, but now I can't be there...

What if something bad happens to them and I could've prevented it? What if something sad happens and I am not there to console them? What if something wonderful happens and I am not there to share it with them?

Thoughts like these invaded my mind every night, underlining that I missed them. Just that, plain and simple.

I missed their laugh and warmth, I missed my brothers' stupid jokes, my friends' smiles and my mother's hugs.

My eyes filled with tears as I thought of them. I wanted to go back home.

As I cried the night away I fell asleep, cradled by my sadness.

_I felt tears that weren't my own drop on my face as trembling arms held me in a tight embrace: "Perchè? Perchè l'hai fatto?" a woman asks as she weeps, her head resting between my neck and shoulder_.

I woke up the next morning with puffy eyes and a weird sensation in my chest. I brought my hand over my heart sensing its steady beating and trying to figure out what I was feeling. All I realized in the end was that the situation I found myself in wasn't a dream. Suddenly, loud knocks on the door interrupted my thoughts. I got up from my bed: "I'm awake!" I said as I started to get dressed.

We were going to the park today and I didn't want to miss it. The courtyard was fine and all but sometimes a girl just needed a change of air. We ate our breakfast and took off.

We were a group of twenty children plus four adults that were accompanying us. The park we went to was big, one of the few green areas in Gotham, I assumed. It was also very empty since it was so early in the morning. The adults told us not to wander too far.

I was swinging on one of the swings, absentmindedly looking at the children playing tag, hide and seek or climbing on the monkey bars, when I noticed that Ralph, Michael and Tom were wandering off. I glanced at the adults to see if they had noticed it, but they were too busy trying to calm down a child who had climbed too far up a tree. So I decided to follow the trio myself.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" asked Tom, unsure of himself.

"Oh relax will you? It's going to be fine" said Michael smugly.

"Besides, we barely ever get out of that place, we might as well enjoy it"

"I don't know..." said Ralph frowning.

"Oh, stop being such a girl!"

I followed them to the entrance of the park and that's when they started to cross the road. Tom and Ralph looked unsure of what they were doing and Michael, while trying to convince them, did not notice a speeding car coming his way.

My eyes widened with horror as I sprinted towards him with all my might. A sudden sensation of relief came over me as I pushed his body out of the way as the car hit me. I heard a shriek and the car speeding away.

The pain wasn't instantaneous and I didn't understand what was going on. For a second I couldn't feel my whole body and then it felt like I was being pushed to the ground. Suddenly everything was painful! I blinked a few times as tears filled my eyes. I looked at the blu sky and heard Michael crying near me.

"Why did you do it?" he said as some of his tears fell on my cheeks.

_"Perchè l'hai fatto?"_ I remembered from my dream and the strange feeling from this morning returned.

What was it? I don't understand... guilt? But... why?

"Come on!" Ralph said grabbing his friend: "We have to find some help!" he shouted as they went off looking for it.

I tried to hold them: "Wait!" I tried to say but all that came out of my mouth was blood. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Don't leave me alone... I thought as my eyes closed..


	6. Chapter 6

"Quite a troublesome one, aren't you?" a voice said: "Very well, I always did love a challenge" he said and even though my eyes were closed I could tell I was being engulfed in a blinding light.

"When will subject CA9 wake up?"

"Who knows? I mean, after a hit like that it's a miracle she even survived"

"Well, that miracle is what we're being paid for to find out"

I awoke with a start and I realized that I was alive. I did not know where I was but I felt my arms and legs were strapped to the corners of a table. It did not look good.

"Well look who decided to join the party!" said the guy in front of me with a cigarette caught in his grin. His breath smelled of smoke and I couldn't help but hold my breath. "She's awake?" I could hear typing sounds to my left and at the corner of my eye I could see a red headed woman wearing a white lab coat. "Good" she said: "We can finally start with the experiments"

Ok, that did **not** sound good

"Aww, I think we scared little sleeping beauty here" chuckled a bearded guy in his early thirties as he came closer to my right side and injected my arm with a strange liquid. Whatever it was, it was definitely no good because I immediately felt myself burning up.

Droplets of sweat formed on my forehead and I started screaming in pain. "Interesting" the red headed woman said after a few minutes as the burning sensation slowly diminished. "It seems that her metabolism rate runs on an extremely elevated speed" she said as she checked the monitors in front of her.

"Try doubling the amount"

I looked at the bearded guy with fear as he prepared another injection. "No, please no..." I pleaded my voice hoarse from all the screaming. "Sorry kiddo" he said not sounding sorry at all as he inserted the needle in my vein injecting me with another dose. The burning feeling returned twice as painful and I screamed and shook my legs and arms against the leather straps to try and free myself, to do something that might distract me from the agony that I was going through.

They repeated the procedure several times on me. I didn't know for how long this lasted but in my moments of consciousness I was able to memorize my surrounding. To the left of the table on which I was strapped, I noticed a huge console and multiple monitors and, in front of me, the exit door, so close yet so unreachable. To my right was a shelf full of vials for different liquids and various sharp objects and, above me, the blinding, inexsorable light.

Everyday, or at least it seemed so to me, somebody would come in and experiment on me. Eventually they became more creative with their ideas. Everyday I would feel water fill my lungs, acid course through my veins and poison burn my throat. Everything was a blur of pain and screaming. I could not think of anything except how to stop the pain and how not to go insane.

The strange thing was that it took me a while to realize was that I never died. I know I should be grateful but there were just moments when I wished for all the pain to end with death, but it didn't come. Surprisingly I was healing at an alarming rate after each experiment. Apparently this team wanted to find out what made metahumans tick. I realized then that I was a metahuman, a mutant. This also explained how I survived the car accident I thought while staring at the glaring light on the ceiling.

The bearded guy who was alone today, came into the room holding what I think was a new poison in his hands: "Ok kiddo, open wide" he said as he dug his nails on my cheeks making me open my mouth. He then made me drink the liquid. My whole body trembled and I started to cough as blood dripped from my mouth. Tears formed in my eyes and streamed down my face as I started to scream.

Then suddenly I heard a deafening alarm roar as red lights flooded the room. "Damnit! no, No, NO!" shouted the man as he punched codes on the keyboard. I could hear guns firing and explosions in the distance even as I screamed in pain: "OH, SHUT UP!" he said stuffing my mouth with a piece of cloth. Suddenly all went silent.

The gunshots and explosions stopped in that instance and I could see the beads of sweat streaming down the bearded guy's face. He was looking at the entrance when suddenly a tall figure dropped from the air vents making barely any sound. The sound he did make though, in that dead silence, was deafening. The bearded guy looked ready to soil himself in fear as the caped figure swiftly closed in on him and punched his face once. I really couldn't feel sorry for him as my torturer dropped to the ground. Then the tall figure turned to me and took off the blood stained cloth from my mouth.

"It's over now" a deep and grave voice said. A sensation of relief came over me as I realized that it was really over. Tears of joy filled my bloodshot eyes and I cried like the child that I currently was. He freed me from the leather staps and craddled me in his strong arms. I cried myself to sleep gripping his black cape.


	7. Chapter 7

"Beep Beep Beep Beep" I heard and I groaned as I tried to find the alarm clock while trying to stay asleep. "Ate, svegliati che siamo in ritardo" my little brother, Noah, said as he hurriedly put on his sweater: "Ancora cinque minuti" I said covering my face with my pillow to shield my eyes from the blinding light that he purposely turned on to wake me up. I felt tiny hands pull away the pillow from my face and I was greeted with the stern-ish gaze of my youngest brother, Liam: "Sono già le 7:30, dobbiamo andare!" he said trying his best to be serious, which for him was kind of hard since he had such a cute face. His attempt did made me chuckle though: "Va bene, va bene sono sveglia" I said with a sigh. I got out of bed and got dressed, then went to the kitchen for some breakfast.

"Buongiorno" my mom greeted: "Buongiorno" I said as I hugged her: "Oh! Oh! Anche io! Anche io!" Liam said as he ran towards us for a hug. Noah joined in a bit more calmly but just as enthusiastic. Now, I don't know about other people but for me there's no better way to start in the morning than with a group hug, and bacon, if my stomach's grumbling was any indication. "Su forza, mangiate che è tardi" my mother chuckled as she pulled away from the hug. I had to agree with her of course, looking at the clock it was almost 7:40 and... OH MY GOD we were gonna be late!

I hastily shoved eggs and bacon in my mouth then grabbed my two brothers and took off barely making it in time for school. I bid my brothers goodbye as we went to our different classes. The lessons passed by quite uneventfully until our chemistry lesson. We were trying to observe the reactions between substances when I noticed that my mixture wasn't giving the right reaction, by which I mean nothing was happening at all.

I raised my hand to get the attention of my professor and she came to me asking me what was wrong. After consulting the textbook for a few seconds she showed me a formula and said: "Prova a raddoppiare la quantità"

_"Try doubling the amount" a redheaded woman said with malevolent curiosity in her eyes._ I started to breathe heavily as my hands started shaking: "Ecli, stai bene?" the professor asked and that brought me out of whatever it was that I was experiencing. "Sì" I said with a shaky voice as the bell rang for lunch time.

I was absentmindedly moving around the food in my plate as I thought about what happened in chemistry class when a pea hit me on my cheek. I looked up and saw my childhood friend's grin: "Axel, quanti anni hai esattamente?" I asked as I wiped away the now mushed pea from my cheek.

"Sedici, grazie al cielo non sono vecchio come te nonnetta" he said jokingly.

"Solo perchè è un anno più grande di noi non la rende una nonnetta" my friend Olivia defended: "Già e poi sei tu che ti comporti sempre come un bambino per questo sembra più vecchia in confronto a te" said Amelia with a smug smile on her face. Axel pretended to be offended for only a second before bursting into laughter: "Okay, bel punto. Comunque che cosa ti era successo prima?" he asked me. "Non lo so" I said as I went back to moving the food around my plate. The three of them looked at me worriedly before hesitantly shrugging and talking about mudane stuff. "Hey Ecli, apri la bocca" Amelia said putting a piece of chocolate cake in front of me. Cold sweat formed on my forehead as I started to grow pale. _"Open wide" a bearded guy said as he grabbed my chin and squeezed my cheeks to force a strange liquid down my throat._ I shot up and ran for the girls' bathroom, crouching in front of the toilet as I started to vomit my guts out. Tears formed in my eyes as I gagged repeatedly: "Ecli! Ecli!" Amelia and Olivia both shouted as they knocked on the bathroom door, worry lacing their voices. "Ecli!" they said but they sounded distant like they were gradually moving away from me as my head spinned and I collapsed to the ground.

As I slowly opened my eyes I was blinded by a familiar white light on top of me. Looking around my surroundings I could not see any traces of the huge monitors, of the console or of the vials of strange liquids. I also noticed that unlike before I wasn't strapped to the bed anymore.

Fear seeped into my chest as I heard footsteps coming towards the room in which I found myself. Taking the needle of the I.V. with me, I quickly went under the bed waiting for my new torturer to come in. When they did come in though, I launched myself towards them pushing them with all the force that I could manage making them fall to the ground. I then stabbed their leg with the needle and ran for the door.

I ran and ran pushing everyone out of my way. I was almost in the elevator when I felt two pairs of hand grab my arms: "Calm down!" they said but I was too busy going againts them to hear. I kicked and squirmed trying with all my might to free myself:"Ms. Heil! Ms. Heil!" they shouted and among the confusion I heard it: "Ecli" a stern yet gentle voice said. I froze and slowly, I looked up to see Beverly. "I...I don't understand..." I said as confusion and fear laced my voice. Why was she here? Was she working with these people? My eyes swelled up with tears at the thought as I felt the sting of betrayal seep into my bones. Seeing my confusion she knelt down and cupped my cheeks in both of her hands: "We're at the hospital right now. You were rescued three days ago and have been asleep ever since, don't you remember?"

Seeing that I was somewhat calm the two people who were holding my arms let go of me.

I grabbed her hands with my trembling ones as a low whimper escaped my mouth. I shook my head and tears started to run down my cheeks. She hugged me and I grew stiff before slowly returning the gesture: "It's all over now, Ecli" she said and I could hear the slight wavering of her voice. I sobbed as I buried my head between her neck and shoulder. Then I remembered everything that they did to me and the sobbing grew louder. I remembered my dream, my family and friends...

Everything was over now... so why did I feel more broken than I've ever been?

Translation:

"Ate (pronounced: Ah-te, means: big sister) wake up, we're late"

"Five more minutes"  
"It's already 7:30 we have to go!"

"Alright, alright I'm awake"

"Good morning" "Good morning mom"

"Oh! Oh! Me too! Me too!"

"Come on and eat, it's late"

"Try doubling the amount"  
"Ecli, are you alright?" "Yes"

"Axel, how old are you exactly?"  
"Sixteen, thank the heavens I'm not as old as you granny"

"Just because she's one year older than us doesn't make her a granny"

"Yeah, and besides you're the one who always acts like a child that's why she looks older compared to you"

"Okay, good point. Anyways what happened to you earlier?" "I don't know"

"Hey Ecli, open your mouth"


	8. Chapter 8

We went back to the orphanage a few days later. The children still laughed and cried and were just being their usual selves. Tom, Michael and Ralph also stopped harassing me. We didn't become friends or anything but they seemed to at least tolerate my presence now and by tolerate I mean that they would always get up and run whenever I so much as entered the same room as them. Although, I did notice Michael look at me a couple of times like he wanted to say something so maybe they were trying to figure out how to do just that.

Apart from those three everything was the same as I remembered. It's like everything went on as if nothing happened and I would even go so far as to say that all was fine and well.

If only that were true...

It didn't happen while I was in the hospital, I think I was too exhausted both physically and mentally but when I got better it started. I didn't even notice at first, it crept on me from behind and then struck me suddenly.

I found myself tied to the bed once again as my torturer walked i front of me with a vial in his hand. I stared at him with bloodshot eyes filled with fear as he spoke: "Look kiddo, a new formula just for you" he said with a maniacal smile plastered on his face. I tried to turn away as he forced the liquid down my throat but he was firmly holding down my face with his other hand. I started to gurgle as the inside of my throat bled and he and his associates laughed at me, the sounds mixing and echoing through the room.

I woke up with a start, panting and covered in cold sweat. I tried to calm myself by looking around the now familiar space that was my bedroom. Noticing the absence of a certain bearded guy my breathing slowly went back to normal.

As I tried to get up though I found myself unable to due to a huge weight on my chest. Squinting in the darkness, I tried to make out what was weighing me down. Sweat ran down my forehead as I made out the faint lining of a smile. I tried to scream but no sound came out of my mouth: "Did you really think we'd let you get away that easy?!" he nearly shouted while looking at me with a deranged look on his face. I shut my eyes expecting something but when nothing happened I slowly reopened them. There was no one here but me...

I slowly got up as my body trembled with fear. I gripped my hair with both hands, resting my forehead on my knees. I let out a low and hysterical laugh that quickly turned into sobbing. Fat tears fell on my cheeks as I once again spent a sleepless night with nothing for company but the terrible memories of my torturers.

Dark circles formed around my eyes as the nightmares went on. I also started to get thinner as I slowly lost my appetite, not like I wasn't thin before but now I was bordering on malnourished.

I would go by my days with half closed eyes, wandering around the orphanage like a spectre. All the adults and even some of the older kids started to worry and fuss around me but none of them were able to make me tell them what was wrong.

How was I supposed to do that anyway? Should I walk up to them and say: "You see, I was tortured and am now suffering from PTSD and insomnia, no biggie"

Yeah, no matter how many times I said it in my head I still sounded sarcastic. Oh well, it's not like I had any plans to tell anyone about it. I thought as I lazily watched the children chase each other in the courtyard. I looked up at the sky, it was getting dark and the different hues of orange and violet made me feel nostalgic: it was so familiar, so close yet so far. It was one of the few positive feelings that I managed to scrape from the bottom of the barrel in which I found myself. "I want to go back home..." I whispered still staring up: "I'm afraid you can't, child" Someone whispered back and I jumped forward looking behind me. There was no one there... I chuckled, gripping my hair with one hand: I must be going insane.

As the sun set all the children started to go inside, preparing themselves for supper as I prepared myself for another sleepless night. I stared at the ceiling as I lied on my bed, too afraid to go to sleep. I was so tired and at this point I think the fatigue was getting on my head because I thought it was a good idea to go out for a walk and not just on the courtyard walk, no, the walls that surrounded us daily was starting to make me feel claustrophobic: I wanted out, so out I went.

Gotham was quite a quiet and calm city at night, that is if you ignore the sound of sirens that seem to be constantly roaring in the distance. I relished the feeling of cold wind blowing on my face and the typical smell of city smog. Everything was so familiar I could almost pretend that I was back in Milan, I guess cities were the same everywhere in that aspect.

I was enjoying my walk when I heard someone shout: "Let go of me!" Passing by the entrance of an alley I could see a woman with dark hair trying to get away from a red faced, clearly drunk man. "Come on honeybuns, I'll show you a good time" he said eyeing her body up and down, I shivered in disgust: eww.

Thinking fast I quickly went towards them as sneakily as I could. Once I was near enough I walked towards them normally, making myself known: "Mommy..." I said tugging at her dress once I was close enough: "What's going on?" I asked innocently as I stared at the drunk man. "You have a kid?" the man asked clearly put off. Fortunately the woman was too surprised to actually say anything and taking advantage of the confusion I punched the man in the genitals as hard as I could: "Run!" I said to the woman and she complied. I would have gone with her but I felt a hand grab my arm and threw me to the nearest wall. "Why, you little...!" he said and before finishing that sentence he kicked me right in the stomach. He kicked me again and again and before I could faint I grabbed his foot and made him lose his balance. I was already healing by the time we both got up: "You BRAT!" he shouted furious and seeing that he was blocking the exit to the dingy alley I really didn't see a way out of this situation. He closed the distance between us and threw a punch at me, a punch that somehow I was able to catch and crush in my hand.

Seriously I crushed his freaking hand! The man screamed in pain as he clutched his broken hand and ran away. I was left on my own in the alleyway to think about what I've done. My heart was beating faster and faster as I started to panic. HOW THE HELL DID I DO THAT?!

I stared at my hands, trembling due to the adrenaline rush, then I saw an industrial trash can and an idea popped in my head. I went near it, crouched down, put my hands under it and lifted with my legs and yep, I could now totally lift a trash can four times my size.

I should probably try and figure out why or how but honestly I was way too tired to deal with this and besides, I don't think touching that trash can was such a good idea, I thought as I smelled my hands. It smelled like... eww. Holding my hands far away from my body I searched for a water fountain, washed my hands and went back to the orphanage. I lied down on my bed and let sleep take over me. It was the first night that I spent without a single nightmare on sight.


	9. Chapter 9

From that day on I've made it a habit to sneak out at night and take walks in the dark city streets. There was something exhilarating about the liberty, danger and control that I felt on myself, it made me feel so alive. It was addicting and probably not mentally healthy but this was the best I've ever been since arriving in this world and I was not going to give it up. I also tried to use my powers, more specifically my strength to see if it was something that I could control. The result was a child almost popping a blood vessel while trying really hard to lift a wardrobe, safe to say I couldn't control my strength at will so I gave up after fifteen minutes of muscle flexing. Besides, apart from that little accident with the dark haired woman my walks have been relatively peaceful with no other drunk man on sight. I took a deep breath of the cool night air and sighed with content.

I was passing by another alleyway, just minding my own business when I noticed a man wearing a hat and a trench coat menacingly looming over a rich looking couple. He had his back turned towards me but judging by the terrified look on the people in front of him I was guessing that he had something on them like a knife or a gun. I seriously almost fell on my knees at the weight of the misery that the universe has decided to put on my shoulders. Was I suppose to get beaten up again? I just wanted to spend a peaceful night, damnit!

Then a not so altruistic thought came into my mind: Maybe I could just leave them to their fates? I mean it's not like I owe them anything and after the last time I helped someone I was beaten to a pulp, granted I did heal but it still really hurt...

While I was contemplating this not so heroic train of thought I heard a squeaky voice saying: "Mommy, I'm scared..." he said and Oh, come on! What were they thinking, bringing a child in a dark alley with them and in Gotham no less! Do these people have a death wish? Do I have a death wish? Because before I could stop myself I was already picking up an empty can and throwing it at the possibly weapon wielding man. He turned around and yep, I thought popping the p in my mind, that's a gun alright. A real, loaded gun that was now being pointed at me. At least the family got the cue and took that opportunity to escape. I would be a little offended that they didn't even try to help me but then again I was contemplating on leaving them so all's fair I guess. The man looked furious that his quasi victims escaped and expressed himself so by hitting my head hard with the gun. "You'll pay for this" he said in a deep and menacing voice. Once I was on the ground he started stomping on my head with his foot, I tried to shield myself but he didn't even give me time to react when a loud, wet crack echoed through the alleyway. My body stopped moving and the man stopped stomping. Everything went black.

When I opened my eyes I was lying on the floor of a white room with nothing in it but an oak desk and three oak chairs, two in front and one behind said desk. There was a feather fountain pen dipped in a small glass container filled with black ink and some light brown parchments near it. Seeing my bad history in fainting and waking up in strange, potentially dangerous places I may have panicked a little. There was no door in the room so I was virtually and quite literally trapped. I moved between the two chairs to look at what was written on the parchments. "Quite a troublesome one, indeed" someone said and I jumped backwards. In front of me was an old man with raven black hair and stormy grey eyes, he had a skeletal physique and was wearing a black coat paired with black pants and shoes. He sat down behind the desk and I couldn't help but stare because of the man's sudden appearance. I... felt like I've seen him before...

Just like that a massive headache that I haven't had for a while came over me. I crouched on the floor holding my head as I groaned in pain: "Interesting" he said and in the blink of an eye he was also crouching in front of me. He touched my forehead with one delicate finger and suddenly the pain that I was feeling was gone.

I looked at him with wide eyes as he started to get up and return to his seat: "Make yourself comfortable" he said and I hesitantly sat down on one of the chairs without ever taking my eyes off of him: "You fear me" he stated. "I'm cautious of you. What are you?" I asked looking him in the eyes, my own unwavering. He sighed: "You really don't remember..." my eyes furrowed at that: "Do I know you?" "You did, but it seems like you've chosen to forget"

"Were you the one who brought me here?" "Yes"

"Why?" He raised an eyebrow: "You know why"  
"No I don't" I said exasperated: "And what do you mean by "chosen to forget"? I don't remember any of that" He gave me a deadpan look.

"Oh, you know what I mean" I said throwing my hands in the air. He chuckled.

"I could make you remember but do you think it wise? If you have chosen to forget then there must be a reason"

I stared at him thinking about what he said. What reason could there be for me to forget something like that? Is that why I get migraines every time I try to remember? All because I don't want to? I looked down at my hands and my eyes grew hazy as thoughts flooded my mind, the man waiting patiently for me to make a decision: "You're right... It may not be wise for me to dig out something that I've decided to hide" I bit my bottom lip in preparation for what I was about to say: "But I need to know why I'm here, what made you take me away from my family?" I whispered.

His eyes grew dark as he raised his eyes to look directly at mine: "My child" he said: "I'm afraid it was not I who took you away from your family" and there was a tinge of sadness in his gaze.

He touched my forehead again and the blackness of my pupils expanded to cover all of my eyes. Like unlocking a forbidden box and unleashing all the evil within it my memories came back to me.


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you to Alessandra for the help.

"I am so sorry my dear child" I could hear the old man say as the room around us slowly dissolved like a breath of smoke. Everything went black once more.

A little girl lied on the dirty floor of a dark alley, her broken head slowly piecing itself together, morphing and healing. She took a deep, sudden breath and smog filled her lungs. Her eyes flew open revealing nothing but obsidian orbs behind her eyelids. Pushing on the ground with her elbows she shakily stood up. She looked absentmindedly into thin air, her face an expressionless mask, as she tried to wobbly walk towards the exit of the alley. After taking a few steps forward though, she tripped on some uneven asphalt falling on her hands and knees. The sound she made attracted the attention of a retreating, trench coat wearing man, who stopped dead on his tracks and slowly turned towards her. Once his eyes landed on the girl he inhaled sharply in shock and fear took over his face as he saw the completely black spheres that were the girl's eyes. She got up and the man flinched, his gaze focused on every movement that she made.

If he had given himself time to think he would have asked how a such a tiny child was able to survive. He would have asked why her eyes were completely black. He would have asked what she wanted from him after what he had done. The child took a step forward and the man stepped back, tripping and falling on the cold, dirty ground. He felt cornered so he didn't give himself time to think: he raised his gun with both shaking hands and pulled the trigger. A single bullet split the air and landed on the girl's forehead making her head tilt backwards. Everything went still. A moment later the girl raised her small hand and plucked the bullet from her forehead. She stared at it, rolling it between her fingers. Her shoulders started to shake and a low chuckle escaped her mouth. It grew louder and louder, quickly turning into hysterical laughter.

There was something broken, something wrong with her expression. He could feel it, it wasn't human. The man looked at the scene dumbfounded, not knowing what to do he slowly and carefully got up with shaking legs. He turned towards the exit of the alley and tried to run away but the child noticed and did not let him. With super human speed, she ran towards him, launched forward and grabbed his legs making them both fall to the ground. "Get away from me you freak!" he shouted as he tried to crawl away. She never stopped laughing, not even as she grabbed the man's hair and smacked his head against the pavement again and again and again, until his face was nothing but a bloody mess.

Her laughter echoed through out the alleyway as a caped figure landed from a rooftop in front of them."You'll kill him" he said with a seemingly calm voice. She didn't listen. I don't think she could even hear him. She continued to hit the man's head on the pavement. The caped man had to grab the tiny hand that was holding the man's head by the hair with all his strength in order to stop her: "I said you'll kill him" he said looking into her completely black eyes.

The girl tried to pull her hand away half-heartedly and among all the laughter the caped man could hear a strangled sob, then two and then three. The alternation between laughing and sobbing went on until the girl was nothing but a wailing heap on top of the trench coat wearing man, fat tears streaming down her cheeks like rivers. The man never let go of her hand and at one point, when she was tired enough that she couldn't resist anymore, the man scooped the still sobbing, half asleep girl into his arms.

It was four o'clock in the morning when Ecli opened her eyes again and was confused to find herself in her room staring at the ceiling instead of being in a dirty alley. For a moment she contemplated on considering everything as a dream but the blood in her hands and the tear marks on her face prevented her from doing so. The caped man... Batman(?) must have brought her back to the orphanage which means that in one way or another Beverly was informed of the fact that she went out. Her head hurt just thinking about the consequences that that entailed and her throat was extremely sore so she decided to a) not think about the consequences at all and b) to get herself a glass of water. Having made up her mind she stopped staring at the ceiling and got up from the bed. On her way to the kitchen she passed by Beverly's office: "This is ridiculous! She's just a child!" Beverly said exasperated.

Ecli, hearing the tone of her voice got curious and peeked through the barely open door. Behind the desk was Beverly, sitting on her wooden chair and in front of her was sitting a tall, muscular person: Batman. "I understand your concerns" he said. "But given what happened tonight, I don't think it's safe for her and for others if she stays here. The group will only do small missions and even then they'll be closely monitored. They'll also have experts train them so that they'll learn how to use their powers". "But Ecli doesn't have powers!" she said massaging her temple as if they've gone over the same thing over and over again. For a long moment, Batman did nothing but stare at her, he sighed softly and got up: "Why don't we ask her" he said as he opened the door. Ecli didn't have time to react and found herself standing there awkwardly as the two adults stared at her.

"Umm..." she said and she looked very much like a dear caught in headlights: "I was just about to have a glass of water" she said as she tried to leave: "Ecli" Beverly said as if daring her to. That stopped her on her tracks: "Sorry..." Ecli said as Beverly motioned for her to sit. Batman followed and sat down on the chair next to her angling his body so that he was facing her. "Did you notice strange things happen to you recently? Things that you can't clearly explain?" he asked and Ecli found his choice of words all too fitting to her situation. She would have laughed, really, but thinking about the situation she found herself in only made her remember why she found herself in it in the first place and she couldn't help her face from slipping into an emotionless mask. Batman noticed: "Yes" she said and when he didn't say anything she continued.

"My metabolism runs on an extremely elevated rate which makes me resistant to poison." Ecli said robotically, repeating what she heard from her torturers. Beverly's eyes grew comically wide as she continued talking: "I also get stronger and more invulnerable the more I get hurt. At least that's what I've concluded from what I've observed." "So you were hurt when I found you in that alleyway?" Batman asked while discreetly searching for any injuries that he might have missed: "I heal after I get hurt". Batman looked at her, pensive: "Can you tell me how badly you were hurt?" and here she wondered for a moment if he counted emotional and mental hurt but judging by the context he probably meant physical: "The dying kind of hurt" she said with a blank face. She could hear Beverly, who's been silent the entire exchange, gasp at her words while Batman only pursed his lips. "How did you know that you died?" he asked.

She tilted her head to the side and a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes appeared on her face: "I just do" and as she said this her eyes flashed black for a second startling Beverly. Ecli sighed: "Beverly" she said: "I heard you talking about some sort of training and I would like to participate" she raised her hand to stop her from protesting: "I'm going to figure out what's happening to me, one way or another so don't you think it would be better if someone's holding my hand along the way?" she said as she looked her in the eyes, her gaze unwavering. Beverly closed her eyes and exhaled, defeated: "I swear sometimes I can't believe you're just ten years old" she said: "Very well, go pack your things and we'll discuss a few matters regarding your relocation". Ecli nodded to both of them, got up and went off.


	11. Chapter 11

It actually took them more than three hours to talk about the 'matters' of Ecli's relocation, while the girl in question kept pacing from her room to the door to Beverly's office, occasionally trying to hear what it was that was making them take so long. She sighed. Beverly was probably taking in all the information she could get out of Batman and quite possibly giving him some sort of shovel talk. Ecli stopped for a minute to imagine that scenario... Yep, Beverly could totally do that. After returning to her room for like, the hundredth time, she sprawled herself on top of the backpack that was on the bed, currently littered with all the articles of clothing that she possessed. She looked at the ceiling as a heavy feeling settled on her chest: _"My child, I'm afraid it was not I who took you away from your family". _Her eyes watered as that single sentence brought back in her mind the previously locked up memories. 'I Have to know' my ass, she thought as she roughly dried her tears away with her forearm. She took a deep breath trying to steady her feelings. It was almost eight o'clock and the orphanage was slowly coming back to life. The adults were preparing breakfast and waking up the children.

After concluding her interrogation I mean, her discussion with Batman, Beverly went to Ecli's room. She knocked on the door three times before coming into the bedroom where she found the little girl sprawled on top of her bed, with her left forearm covering her eyes: "Ecli?" she said gently. The girl took her forearm away from her face and slowly sat up. She looked at Beverly with glossy eyes: "Yes?" she said barely above a whisper. Beverly took in the form of the fragile child in front of her. Ever since she disappeared the girl had had trouble eating, causing herself to grow thinner than she already was and she had also started to isolate herself more than she did at the beginning. Those facts only contributed to the melancholic and fading look that enveloped the girl. "I've finished talking to Batman, he said he'll be waiting for you in his car in front of the gates" she said: "Would you like to say goodbye to the other children over breakfast?". Ecli sat there and thought: I don't think anyone would care if I were gone: "but I don't think it would be polite to go without saying goodbye either" she murmured: "Alright" she said while standing up. She quickly finished packing and put her backpack on.

Everyone sat at the big table and ate, chattering and laughing and before they all stood up to put their dishes away Beverly announced that Ecli would be transferring to another 'institution'. The little girl bid the children goodbye and thanked the adults for their hospitality, meanwhile a little boy squirmed in his seat after finding out that he didn't have much time to do what he had to do.

Ecli was walking across the front yard and was about to open the gates when she heard someone shout: "Wait!". She turned around and saw Michael running towards her. When he finally reached her he was gasping for breath, holding up his index finger as if to say: one moment. He took one last deep breath and looked at Ecli uncertainly in the eyes: "Um..."he said. "Can I help you with anything?" Ecli asked curious: "No, uh... Listen sickly- I mean... Ecli...uhm" he said as he started to fidget with the hem of his shirt, his gaze directed to the ground: "Michael, what's wrong?" she asked frown lines forming on her forehead. She's never seen the child so insecure of himself.

At that moment Michael looked up suddenly: "I just wanted to say thank you, for saving me back then" he said and looking back down at the ground again he continued: "and uhm... I'm sorry for treating you so badly" he whispered, his voice full of guilt, as his eyes became glossy. Ecli reached out with her hand but stopped herself before touching the boy and clenched her hand into a fist. She then launched at him and hugged him tightly knocking some of the air out of the surprised boy: "It's alright" she said: "and thank you for telling me all that" she gave him a rare genuine smile before telling him goodbye once more.

She spotted the big black car and took a deep breath before opening the door to the passenger's seat. She saw batman typing on the built in pad and went in, closing the door behind her. She put the backpack between her feet and strapped on her seat belt. Only then did she look at Batman in the eyes: "I'm sorry for taking so long". Batman regarded her for a minute before saying: "It's alright. It gave me time to warn your 'teachers' of our arrival" she nodded, he started the engine and they went off. She looked absentmindedly through the window at the ever changing scenery as they quickly fell into a comfortable or at the very least tolerable silence.

The fatigue of not having slept during the night caught on to her as she started to doze off. After half an hour of trying to fight it she finally succumbed to sleep as echoes filled her mind.

"It was not I who took you away from your family" "I have to know" "Open wide" "Why did you do it?"

"PERCHE' L'HAI FATTO?" the desperate voice of a woman asked as she cradled Ecli in her arms, tears streaming down her face as she cried and trembled. Not so far away Ecli could hear two people wailing, moving her head ever so slightly she was able to see two little boys furiously trying to dry the river of tears falling down their cheeks with their fists. "Mi dispiace..." she tried to say but her lips wouldn't move and as she tried to cup the woman's cheek in her hands to assure her that everything would be alright, she found that her body was as heavy as stone and that much like her lips she couldn't move her arms.

Guilt and regret filled her heart weighing down her chest until she couldn't breath. "Ecli" a deep voice called out to her. "Ecli!"

Ecli's eyes flew open as she took a deep breath looking as if her head was previously submerged in water. Sweat ran down her temple and forehead and she couldn't help gasping for air. She wiped the tears from her eyes and noticed that the car was still at the side of the road. "Are you alright?" Batman asked. Ecli took a shaky breath before putting on the best smile she could manage: "Yes, it was just a nightmare" she said not looking him in the eye before looking out the window. Batman pursed his lips but didn't ask any further questions. It took them a couple more hours of driving before they could finally see their destination in the distance: the Teen titans' tower.


	12. Chapter 12

The batmobile came to a halt just in front of the tower's entrance. Batman turned to her as the passenger seat's door opened: "Use the intercom at the right side of the doors. Tell them your name and they'll know what to do." he said as Ecli gripped the straps of her bag, looking at the enormous building in front of them. "I would've liked to accompany you till the end but unfortunately I have some urgent business I need to attend to."

Ecli turned her head towards him, her hands still gripping the straps and nodded once: "It's alright" she said. She found it unfathomable, the reason why Batman would feel the need to explain himself to her. That didn't mean the action was unwelcomed.

"Thank you" she smiled, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, as she removed her seat belt and exited the car. The door closed behind her as she started to make her way towards the intercom, her hands finding their way to the straps of her backpack again.

Batman looked at the small child. He noticed the slight shake that came to her tiny body when it dawned on Ecli that he wouldn't be accompanying her.

He had hoped that she would have just acted her age and asked for him to stay, for her to ask for his help. He massaged his temples with one hand as he took a deep breath. Of course she wouldn't be like other children her age, not after all the things she went through. With a sigh he put his hands on the steering wheel and went off.

Ten minutes after Batman went off and Ecli was still in front of the entrance.

Batman may be the world's smartest detective but apparently his intellect didn't account for the fact that Ecli was shorter than your average ten year old and thus wouldn't be able to reach the button of the intercom. She sighed and sat on the ground her back against the doors.

She was able to calm down in the past ten minutes and when she could actually think again she started to compartmentalize all her knowledge of the DC universe. Not that there was a lot to compartmentalize in the first place. She was always more of a Marvel fan. She knew the fundamentals of DC like who Batman really was, the identity of Superman and the Robins and that's about it. Apart from random scenes like that one time Superman and Batman cried together due to the death of sausage shaped aliens (because come on! Who wouldn't remember that.) her mind came up with nothing. To begin with, most of her knowledge were drawn from random fanfictions and video clips. She strongly hoped that she would be able to use them at some point, any point really.

She sighed and hugged her knees. She really didn't know anything, why would he send her here? She should've been more specific. She thought, her hands forming into fists. She should've just kept her stupid mouth shut.

Having the knowledge of the future wasn't that important back home. She just lived her life one day at a time but here?

She had to take any advantage she could get if she wanted to not just survive but also have a life in this world filled with super powered maniacs.

She did want to survive, right? She thought leaning even more towards the doors.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the doors behind her promptly opened. She fell backward. She saw people. She blinked. They blinked. Slowly, she got up never taking her eyes away from them and dusted herself off as if everything was normal: "I'm Ecli Heil" she said identifying the oldest of the group: "Batman said you'd know what to do with me." she said now pointedly looking at an older version of Starfire.

Ecli looked at the others in the group: Raven and Beastboy were the right age for the teen titans that she knew of but there was also Bluebeetle amongst them so the idea that she was in the teen titans with Dick Grayson as Robin flew right out the window.

Starfire smiled but then looked around her. What she found or didn't find made her frown: " Is he not with you?"

Ecli shook her head: " No, he had some important business he needed to attend to."

Starfire sighed exasperated. Ecli looked at her and she looked back smiling, then she turned to the others: " As you've heard this is Ecli Heil, she's one of the guests who will be staying with us"

She turned to Ecli: " I'm Kori. This is Garfield" she said placing her hand on Beastboy's shoulder whom promptly gave Ecli a laid back salute: " Rachel" Raven or Rachel nodded at Ecli in greeting: " And finally: Jaime" whom smiled and waved at Ecli. She nodded.

" It's-" and before she could finish that sentence they all heard the roar of a car's engine going their way. A black car stopped just in front of them and out came a man and a child roughly her age wearing the robin costume. Ecli stared at the child. Everything depended on which Robin he was.

Robin noticed her staring, he glared and faced the man: "You said I would have to deal with only teenagers so what's a toddler doing here?" he said pointing at Ecli. Everyone glanced at her to see her reaction.

Tod-?! Ecli's eye twitched. She took a deep calming breath and analyzed that sentence: Rude and petulant, not to mention entitled judging by the way he asked. Jason or Damian then.

The man sighed at Jason/Damian's question and opted instead to greet Starfire: " Nightwing" she said as she shook his hand: "Starfire." "It's been a while" Starfire said. "I know, you're looking good" Jason/Damian looked at the two of them: " This is Damian" Nightwing said: " The new Robin"

"Welcome Damian"

Damian looked at the others and glared while Ecli was too busy being lost in her thoughts of everything concerning Damian that she could gather. He walked off: "I'll be in my room" "Would you like t-"

"I think I can manage"

The others including Ecli stared at him as he walked off.

"That's one creepy mochoso" Jaime said.

Ecli looked at Raven. 'No, more like sad...' she recalled and Raven said it not long after. Ecli pulled her fist in victory as she released a relieved sigh. She remembered some stuff at least and now she knew where in the DC universe she found herself in. She was fine, she could do this so let the story begin.

* * *

I am sooo sorry for the wait, stuff happened and ugh...

Anyway I just wanted to ask: " Would anyone be interested in being the beta for this story? English is not my first language and I'm not used to writing either so a beta would be very useful.


	13. chapter 13

Ecli looked at Kori, who was still looking in the direction of where Damian went off to and walked towards her. She tapped on Kori's hand twice: "Could you please show me to my room?" She said. "It's been a long night…"

Kori smiled at her: " Of course. Come" she said as she started to walk off, Ecli and the others trailing behind her.

Ecli was absentmindedly looking around when she felt an arm go around her shoulder and a body press against her side. She turned her head and found that being in this meter and a half tall body meant that she also had to look upwards to see the face of whoever it was touching her. She was greeted by a smiling face.

"So" Beastboy said pulling her closer: "What do you think? Pretty cool right?" he asked looking at her expectantly.

Ecli smiled her usual: "Yeah, it is" she said and glancing at the others she noticed that they were about to be left behind so she quickly ran towards them.

Beastboy stood there, looking at Ecli with a pensive expression. The girl smiled didn't she?

So why did he find her so sad?

"Garfield keep up!" Jaime said and that pulled Beastboy out of his thoughts. He quickly jogged to catch up to them: "Hey guys, wait for me!" Once he was able to reach them they proceeded with the tour. Kori was explaining the layout of the building while the trio tried to engage Ecli in a conversation.

The girl tried to answer all their rapid fire questions. "When's your birthday?" "How old are you?" "Do you like pizza?"

That last one was from Garfield. She was polite and soft spoken in all of her answers but she was also distant and cold. She didn't share more of herself than what they asked for. Her answers were straight to the point and mostly short with no comments or anecdotes accompanying them, much less expressions. To the others she just appeared uninterested. She knew that her attitude would discourage them and true to her thoughts they went silent after a while. Ecli chewed on her bottom lip as her brow furrowed.

She didn't mean to disregard their efforts like this. For a moment she thought about apologizing but instead: "Thank you" she said. The others looked at her confused so she clarified: "For trying to get to know me." And at this point Kori stopped in front of the door to her bedroom. It was a cool looking door with a pad on it's right side. Kori typed on the pad: "Your code is 4632, you can change it later if you want to." She said.

Ecli nodded and entered her bedroom dipping her head once to say goodbye to the trio. The door closed and Ecli let out a sigh. Her shoulders sagged as she slowly let her nerves calm down. She stretched her arms and rolled her shoulders a few times as she walked towards the bed. She dropped her bag on the floor and promptly let herself fall on the mattress. She closed her eyes and slowly let sleep cradle her in it's arm.

She didn't dream. When Ecli woke up she found herself facing the window. It was dark out. She felt a pain in her abdomen as she curled in on herself. Her stomach grumbled. She was hungry but she didn't want to get up. She felt heavy.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to go back to sleep.

"How long has she been there?" Grayson asked with a concerned look on his face. "About 24 hours" Kori answered with a sigh. They were currently bringing Ecli her second lunch since she came here, seeing as she didn't touch her first lunch or dinner.

When she didn't show up on the table for either meals no one was really worried since she wasn't the only one. They understood how difficult it was to move into an unfamiliar place. So they just left her food in front of her door as they did for Damian and hoped that when they got hungry they would find the tray and help themselves. A few hours later there was only one empty tray to be found.

Grayson place the tray in front of Ecli's room and started pacing in front of her door: "This is ridiculous" he said: "We can't just leave her there" Kori stopped him from pacing and put both hands on his shoulder: "We have to give her time, from what Batman told us she went through a lot." Grayson pursed his lips clearly conflicted on what to do. Kori put one hand on his cheek: "It's going to be alright". He sighed: " You're right"

They both went back to the dining room and ate with the titans except, of course, Damian and Ecli.

It went like that for a couple of weeks the only difference being that Ecli after the 42 hours mark started to eat the food on her doorstep. She never really left her room much less responded whenever they would go and check on her.

At least Damian started to go out of his bedroom even if it's just to use the training grounds. Kori and Grayson as well as Garfield, Jaime and Rachel were all really worried at this point. But there wasn't much that they could do. They couldn't very well force her out now, could they? All they could do was wait.

Ecli felt bad or maybe a more accurate way of phrasing it was that she didn't feel good. She felt empty, hollow and numb like she was nothing but a dried out husk of whom she was many, many years ago. She wasn't knew to this feeling. All of her psychiatrists and psychologists have told her again and again to distract herself whenever she felt this way. It was difficult before when she had a reason, her family, to fight for but what is she supposed to do now that she doesn't? Fading away sounds good but then she remembers that she can't really die yet because he would just bring her back. Stupid Death, stupid mouth, stupid wish.

She heard a knock on the door: "Ecli?" Grayson said: "I'm letting myself in." The tone of his voice left no room for arguments not that Ecli would ever try to. A loud swish was heard in the room and Grayson let himself in like he said. He found the girl looking mindlessly at the ceiling her eyes so similar to those of the dead that for a moment he panicked and almost rushed to her; the only thing that stopped him was the movement Ecli made to look at him confirming that she was, in fact, still alive.

Grayson exhaled and walked towards her as calmly as he could after his initial scare. "Ecli please you need to stop this" he said imploringly as he sat down at the edge of the bed closest to her. He looked at the girl just laying there, the rising and falling of her chest subtle. She had black eye bags so deep you wouldn't be able to tell that she's done nothing but sleep the last couple of weeks. Ecli turned her lead to look at him better: the worry on his face were oh so familiar to her and so was the usual sensation of guilt that gnawed on her from the inside. She looked him in the eye as he said "Please" again as if he was praying. Ecli couldn't bear it so as per usual she turned her back on it.

She heard Grayson sigh in defeat and get up from the bed. He headed for the door and before it could close behind him he could've sworn that he heard a strangled: "I'm sorry"

* * *

So what do you think? Nothing much happened in this chapter but I swear the plot gears are turning. Any criticism or correction of errors are appreciated.


	14. chapter 14

Grayson went to the training room where Kori was supervising the titans. The door opened with a swish and Kori tore her gaze from Damian who was tearing through the group of pseudo foes in the simulation area. As soon as she saw his face she asked: "No luck?" Grayson sighed and shook his head. Kori put on a sympathetic face and went towards him. She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He looked dejected: "I don't know what to do anymore" he said in a whisper and as soon as he said that the door opened once more. On the other side of it was Ecli dressed in leggings and a t-shirt a couple of sizes too big for her. She was awkwardly holding up a fist as if she was about to knock. Grayson and Kori, but mostly Grayson, were wearing a shocked expression on their faces: "Uhm..." Ecli said looking uncertain, her eyes darting around the room: "Do you mind if I stay with you today?" she asked her voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. Grayson exhaled as his mouth morphed into a bright, relieved smile : "Of course not" he said quickly walking towards her.

Not too far from them the sound of sword clashing could be heard. Jaime, Garfield and Rachel were watching Damian as he trained : "He hasn't stopped for over an hour and a half" Jaime said.

Ecli peeked across the room to see Kori walking where the trio were: "Damian" she said: "It's time to let others have their turn"

"I'm not-" he grunted as he slashed one of the foes: "-finished" He said stabbing another. Grayson led Ecli to where Kori and the others were as Jaime stopped the simulation, making the pseudo enemies disappear. "Gee how'd that happen" Jaime said as he stood in front of the controller. Damian glared at him and threw a bat a rang at him. The beetle made a noise and fired laser at the approaching weapon, deflecting it: "What the hell?!" Jaime shouted. Damian smirked: "I heard your tech was fast" he said: "I wanted to see how fast"

Grayson slowed down to a stop and frowned at the scene. Meanwhile as Ecli looked at the display aas a sweet scent started to fill the air.

Jaime glared: "Don't mess with us little man" he said as he approached Damian, who pointed his katana at Jaime as he drew close. Kori immediately flew over and landed between the two: "Alright, I can see we are getting off on the…wrong foot" she said her hand on Damian's shoulder: "Damian, this is a team need to be willing to accommodate others"

He scoffed: "Nightwing said you were a princess, exiled no doubt" he said sheeting his sword.

"Technically it was a coup and like it or not I am still the leader of this group" she said her frown growing stern as Grayson started to walk again, Ecli following closely.

"As I see it: you're an alien with nowhere else to go"

Raven walked towards them: "Everyone needs a home Damian, you included"

"Thank you for chiming in witch girl" he remarked sarcastically.

"We are only here to help you realize your potential" Kori said frowning.

Damian looked at her: "You've been here long enough, when do you think you'll realize yours?" Grayson glared : "Damian" he said his tone chastising but Damian ignored him and started to walk off.

Jaime stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder: "Dude! You need to show some respect" he said.

The boy grabbed his arm and tossed him to the ground as well as kicked him in the stomach sending him on the other side of the room.

Raven's eyes grew wide: "Oh no" and as she said this a mask covered Jaime's face and sword like weapons grew from his hands. Damian drew his sword: "Ready when you are"

They launched at each other, their swords clashing. Kori extended her hand towards them: "No!" she said: "Stop this" Kori and Grayson said at the same time but none of the two boys listened.

Ecli covered her mouth and nose with her hand as she gripped her t-shirt with the other. The sweet smell was growing stronger by the seconds but instead of being nauseating it was causing Ecli to lose the ability to think. Her legs caved in and she fell on her knees. Raven and Beastboy finally noticed Ecli and they both rushed to her: "Ecli? What's wrong?" They asked, both placing a hand on her back. She didn't answer. She didn't even notice them. All she could think of was that scent. She wanted it, whatever it was, she needed it now! Her eyes were darting around the room trying to figure out what it was producing that smell. Her gaze landed on Damian who was fighting with Jaime.

"Who's fighting me? You or the bug?" "You better hope it's me!"

They slashed at each other with their swords but each of them were able to block every attack until finally, Damian threw an explosive at Jaime who fell to the ground.

Kori gasped as Damian loomed over the other boy: "That's the difference between you and me: you wear a weapon, I am one"

Ecli dropped the hand covering her mouth as she gulped. It was him she thought looking at the boy. The sweetest smell she had ever encountered, the one that was driving her mad, it was coming from him. She rose up and quickly walked towards him to- To do what exactly? Before she could figure it out she was already two steps away from him.

Jaime was starting to get up from the ground but as he did so a blue light erupted from his chest: "No!" he shouted and that made Ecli snap out of it. She was able to react and push Damian out of the way. Ecli was blasted through the room as a beam of energy hit her full force.

* * *

Told you the plot gears were turning. What do you think?


	15. chapter 15

Ecli opened her eyes to a white room with nothing in it but an oak desk and three chairs. Upon the desk was a stack of old paper and a feather fountain pen dipped in a container of black ink. Ecli slowly got up from the floor and looked around. She heard a noise from behind her where there was supposed to be nobody. Without turning around she asked "Why this place?"

" It eases you, does it not?" an old man with raven black hair and a skeletal build replied. Ecli turned her head left and right, looking around her. " A white, almost empty room with no doors?"

The old man shrugged: " You tell me" Ecli walked closer to the only furniture in the room, the man's stormy eyes following her. She ran her hand on the engravings of the oak desk. She took a deep breath and the smell of paper and ink filled her lungs. She turned to Death: " You're right, it does ease me" "How so, if you do not mind me asking"

Ecli had her gaze fixed on the engravings: " Back then" she said still not facing him: " When I was at home, I would watch everyone move on without me" she chuckled: "I was so mad at myself for not being able to do the same, to let things go and move on. I didn't know what to do" she said her eyes glistening with unshed tears. " So every night, instead of actually trying to do something, I would wish to be taken away to a place where time didn't matter, where no one from the outside world could hurt me. I wanted to be taken to a place where I would be at peace with myself without me actually deserving that peace." She finished, finally turning to look at Death, her eyes haunted by memories of all that she had to give up to reach that seemingly perfect place. " I'd wish to be in your arms too you now, whichever came first." She whispered.

"I see…" he said and Ecli was glad that he didn't look at her with disdain or disgust or heaven forbid, pity. The only look that he gave Ecli was that of understanding and to her that was more than enough.

"Well, since we are already here there is something I would like to discuss with you." He said motioning his open hand towards the chairs. Ecli rubbed her eyes with her fists to wipe away the unshed tears as she sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk. Death sat on the chair behind it.

"I will get straight to the point" he said putting his hands on the desk and intertwining his fingers: "I want you to play a part in the upcoming apocalypse"

"I'm sorry?"

Death continued: "more specifically I want you to stop the flashpoint that will come in said apocalypse"

Ecli looked, not confused per se but perplexed trying to process all the things that she's been told. Then her brow furrowed and her eyes turned sharp: "Why are you asking this of me" she asked leaning back on the wooden chair and crossing her arms: "and more importantly why should I?"

Death raise an eyebrow as if the answer was obvious: "I brought you to life" he said plainly and Ecli scoffed: " No, my mother brought me to life and once that life ended you merely refused to do your job and lead me to where I was supposed to go next" then she held her chin with her index and thumb and said: "You recycled me" as an after thought.

"Even so, your life is still in my hands my child"

At those words Ecli dropped her hand from her face and looked at Death in the eyes as his expression gave nothing away.

She gulped as sadness took over her very being.

She chuckled: "I'm already dead" she said and then added: " to the people I care about anyways. What else could you possibly do to me?" she said her eyes fearless as she held his gaze.

He laughed. He straight out laughed at Ecli's face, her expression turning from confused to irritated very quickly as it appeared that he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Once his laughter died down and left him giggling Ecli asked, a little offended: " What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing" he said smiling at her: " Although it is just to say that I have not met many like you"

"Like what, exactly?" she asked as her eyes narrowed.

Death took a moment to think, formulating the concept in his head: " I would say" he began slowly as if he really never had to explain such a concept to anyone: "That you aren't afraid of me, not out of apathy but because you have already accepted me as a part of life"

"Yeah…?" She said not quite understanding where he was going because hasn't everyone done that? Accept death.

"I'm afraid not child" Ecli's head snapped at him: " Get out of my head! We've talked about this!"

He chuckled: "Do forgive me, I'm afraid it's a habit I have yet to break"

Ecli sighed: "It's fine, I guess"

"Anyways, I fear we are getting sidetracked: will you accept my request?"

"Not until you tell me why"

He sighed: " Alright" he said as he leaned closer or as close as he could get to Ecli with a desk between them: "I want to avoid the trouble" he said as if sharing a secret.

Ecli blinked once, twice: "What." She finally said her tone dry as the desert.

"Do you realize how many deaths will be undone if a new flashpoint were to happen? How many previously dead people will be coming back to life and how many people who are alive that will be dead?" he said irritation at the thought lacing his voice: " I am getting a headache just thinking about all the switches and changes that will have to be made. They have to realize that such things are not automatic" he said massaging his temples.

Ecli as well was massaging her temples: "Let me get this straight" she said: " You want me to stop the apocalypse because you don't want to do the 'paperwork'?"

Death dropped his hands on the desk and intertwined his fingers once more: "Precisely" he said with a straight face.

Ecli blinked rapidly trying to process it all: "Unbelievable" she whispered.

Death contemplated something as she did this: " How would you feel signing a contract with me then?"

"And what would that entail?" she said her eyes closed as she pinched the bridge of her nose seeing where this conversation went, she was betting it to be something absurd.

"Nothing too absurd" Death said and Ecli narrowed her eyes at him: "I assure you it was written all over your face" he said amused. " The contract would entail an exchange between the two of us. You will give me something that I want and I will give you any one thing that you want"

"Anything?" Ecli perked up, hope filling her eyes. Death looked at her with an apologetic smile: "Anything except reuniting you with your family"

"Oh." the expression of hope dropped from Ecli's face as her eyes dimmed: "Then I don't want anything"

"Give it time child" Death said, sympathetic. The room like before started to disappear like a breath of smoke. Ecli noticed this: "Wait, we're not done talking yet!"

"I have said what I had to say and I've asked what I had to ask"

"But I haven't! I-!" Ecli looked around, her vision becoming clouded as the room transformed into black smoke.

"You could at least tell me what that sweet smell was!" "Smell?" Ecli heard him as if he was distant. "Before Damian was hit by the beam of laser" she said as she tried to balance herself on the chair that was quickly fading into smoke: " A sweet smell was coming off of him" she finished as Death started to disappear as well. Death looked at her surprised and then a big smile took over his face as if he was looking at something precious, unique: "Not like many indeed" he said and everything went black.

Ecli was lying on the floor as Bluebeetle was being controlled by his suit to try and blast Damian as well. Starfire barely hit him with her own blast as she shouted: " Enough!"

Grayson ran towards Ecli, everyone including Damian following suit: " I tried to stop it" Jaime said as his mask disappeared: " Is she alive?" he asked and the look of devastation on Grayson's face was answer enough. Everyone's eyes grew wide, Rachel covering her mouth. "Dios mio, what have I done?" Jaime said trembling as he tried to reach out for Ecli. Before he could touch her however the girl's eyelids flew open revealing obsidian orbs behind them. Every titan flinched at the sudden movement of the supposed to be dead child. Ecli got up from Grayson's arms as her burns quickly healed and her veins turned black.

"Ecli?" he asked uncertain. The girl turned towards him: "I'll be in my room" she said nodding once. She ignored their protests and concerned questions and hazily walked to her room. The door closed behind her and she let herself fall on the bed. She went to sleep with the intention of not waking up anytime soon.

* * *

Thank you to d1n0s and DraconicDuelist for the reviews. I tried to answer your reviews through the notification email that arrived to me when you posted those reviews but apparently that's not how it works and my answers never arrived so I'll answer you here even though it's probably too late:

-Ecli is a name that I invented.

-I never intended for Ecli to be part of any known superhero personification. My intent was to create a new hero all together.

-It's not a requirement for Ecli to die to activate her powers. How it works is like a defense mechanism depending on how much damage she receives. The requirement for her to get hurt is there because I didn't want to make her totally numb to pain. I wanted her to feel pain both physical and emotional the same way she did in her previous life and the same way she will in the future to come.

-I hope as well for it to soon reach the level of fun that comics have. And thank you for the translator alert, I'll keep that in mind.


	16. chapter 16

F.y.i. I listened to detroit: become human's "little one" while writing this.

* * *

Death looked at the child snore lightly as she slept on the bed. He sighed and turned his back on her as he walked towards the closets which he opened and closed as he searched for a blanket. Once he found it he draped it over Ecli's tiny body.

Ecli rolled on her side, away from the bed's edge, gripping the blanket and curling in on herself. Death sat on the edge of the bed and drew comforting circles on Ecli's back to ease the pained expression on her face. It didn't work but he kept on doing it anyways. Death had tried to check in on Ecli more so than usual during the past couple of weeks. He did not see her do anything other than force herself to sleep during the few times that he checked on her; something that he did not understand for the child often had terrible nightmares that did nothing but perturb her during her slumber.

He stopped drawing circles with his hand and placed it instead on Ecli's head. He closed his eyes. He was curious as to why she would seek refuge in her own mind when it was such a mess. He was about to enter her dreams when a memory of not too long ago resurfaced: 'Would you please not do that? It's creepy' the child said making a face that showed she was uncomfortable with the invasion of privacy. Death sighed and smiled: "Alright" he whispered so as to not wake her: "I'll do as you say."

Death took his hand away from Ecli's head and intertwined it with his other on his lap. His eyes grew distant as he thought about their latest conversation. He had hoped that by giving her a purpose, a goal, Ecli would feel less of the feelings that she was feeling right now. From his experience humans whom felt hopeless, helpless and worthless would usually resort to less than savory solutions to distract themselves from their pain and looking at Ecli's history, she was bound to revert to her past habits.

He sighed. He has never interacted with sentient or non sentient beings for this long in the past. He would usually just take those who were meant to die to where they were supposed to go, occasionally look through their memories and maybe let some reincarnate. That was his job. He wasn't supposed to let them keep their memories of any of their other lives much less let them know who he was and give them powers against their will.

A sob interrupted his train of thoughts. He turned and his eyes widened. At some point the child must have started crying in her sleep because her face was drenched in tears. A pang of guilt erupted from his chest.

He caused this.

He pursed his lips. He moved his hand towards Ecli's head and was about to drive away whatever dream she was having when he heard it: "Mom.." she said with a raspy voice as she continued to sob and suddenly he realized that dreaming was her only way of seeing her family again and he was about to take that away from her. His hand formed into a fist as it fell to his side. He ran a hand through his hair effectively disheveling them and sighed for the hundredth time today.

It appeared that every plan he had to try and make the child feel better ultimately backfired or fell flat on the ground before it was executed. He looked at her: "It seems that you will have to suffer alone for a little while longer my child." He said petting her head: "That is until you're ready to let us inside your heart" and just like that he disappeared like a wisp of black smoke.

_Ecli walked towards the night stand beside her bed and pulled at the drawer. Her wrist marked with angry red scratches. Her eyes bloodshot and her eye bags forming black craters beneath them. Inside the drawer was her medicine stock. She drank it, laid down on her bed and went to sleep hoping to never wake up._

_It was dark and she was alone. She felt so numb. She couldn't see. She couldn't hear and she couldn't feel. Then there was light, but it was cold. Her eyes opened and at first she didn't know where she was but then she remembered that she was on her bed. She sat up. A wave of disappointment washed over her._

_Outside she could hear people. As they drew closer she realized that they were her family coming back from their outing. They opened the door and she went to greet them as if nothing happened. "Mamma mi fa male il dito (Mom my finger hurts)" Liam said probably holding out his finger to her. "Te l'avevo detto di non far arrabiare le papere.(I told you not to anger the ducks)" Noah said laughing at the memory of his brother being chased by ducks. A smile appeared on her face against her will. Her brothers always had the ability to do that. Ecli passed through the open door of the bedroom just in time to see Liam frown as he took of his shoes in front of the entrance as did Noah and mom. "Noah non prendere troppo in giro tuo fratello mentre vado a preparare la cena. (Noah don't tease your brother too much as I go and prepare dinner)" mom said amused at their antics. Liam ran towards the bedroom through the corridor: "Ate! (Pronounced Ah-te, means big sister)" he said and Ecli expected him to hug her so she bent her knees a little and opened her arms: "Hey piccolo.(Hey little one)" she said as an involuntary smile appeared on her face once more: "Com'é andata la tua giornata? (How did your day go?)"_

_She expected an impact. She expected to find a bundle of uncontrollable, energetic kid in her arms and most of all she expected a hug. Reality didn't meet any of her expectations as her brother ran straight through her body._

_She halted and turned around to see Liam disappear into the bedroom, Noah following suit._

_Ecli went with them not understanding what was going on. She stopped dead on her tracks as she saw Liam kneeling on the side of her bed: "Ate" he said: " Hey Ate" he repeated and Ecli's heart felt like it stopped beating in her chest because there she was, still lying on her bed._

_Noah kneeled by Liam's side and said: "Ate" while poking her cheek. He gasped surprised: "Mamma mia, sei freddissima. (My God, you're super cold)"_

_"Ate?" he said worry lacing his voice as his smile slowly faded away from his face. "Mamma! C'é qualcosa che non va con ate! (Mom! There's something wrong with ate!)" Liam shouted as he ran to the kitchen._

_Ecli was still looking at the scene before her. Noah had grabbed her shoulders and had started to shake her._

_Mom and Liam soon arrived, the former taking Noah's place. She touched Ecli's cheek and her face paled. Quickly and with trembling hands she checked on her daughters pulse. Her face broke as a heartbreaking wail escaped her throat. Her knees gave in and she fell on the ground, clutching her child._

_She rocked her body along with Ecli's back and forth as she wailed. Noah and Liam kneeled by their mom's side: "Mamma. (Mom)" Liam said with a trembling smile and tears in his eyes: "Sta bene ate?( Is ate alright?)"he asked but mom kept on wailing as if she did not hear him. "Mamma?(Mom?)" Liam asked again, the forced smile slowly slipping off of his face as fat tears streamed down his chubby cheeks._

_Ecli was crying with them: " Mom!" she shouted as she tried to touch her. She couldn't. Ecli's hands went right through her like a ghost's._

_"I'm fine! Look, I'm right here" she said desperately indicating herself as she kneeled in front of her. She turned to her brothers: "Noah, Liam..." she said with difficulty as her voice kept breaking: "please don't cry"._

_She wiped furiously at her tears, her brothers mirroring her. "Guys" she said as she choked on her sobs._

_"They can't hear you, you know?" a young voice said._

_Ecli turned around. Behind her was a child with obsidian orbs for eyes and black veins marking her face. She was wearing a simple white dress. "You abandoned them"_

_Ecli was shaking her head: " No" she said her voice trembling: "That's not true"_

_She turned to her family: "That's not true!" she said tears falling down her cheeks: "Please, you have to believe me!" she shouted gripping her head and resting her forehead on her knees._

_"I just wanted for the pain to stop!" she explained to them as they wailed._

_The child was looking at her with no emotion in her eyes: " Yes, but at what cost?"_

_"Noah? Liam?" she said as they started to disappear like a breath of smoke. She tried to grab them but she couldn't. "Mom!" she shouted as they slipped further and further away from her._

_"MOM!" she shouted as hard as she could, reaching out in vain._

_Everything went black. She couldn't hear, couldn't see and couldn't feel._

_Then there was light, but it was cold._

Something was holding her hand. It was warm.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She saw Grayson and Kori holding her hand. Her eyes were filled with tears. She sat up: "Ecli…" Kori said as she pulled her into a hug. Ecli hugged her back and before she knew it she was wailing. Grayson put a hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it with one hand while the other hugged Kori.

She didn't even notice the other titans standing by, didn't even question why they were here. She didn't ask.

All she knew was that they were warm.

* * *

what do you think, too much? or is it too little?


	17. Chapter 17

About 2 hours after the training room incident…

"And you didn't think that it was a good idea to share that bit of information with us?" Grayson asked on the phone with an irritated tone.

"I _was_ hoping for it to never come up during her stay there with you, yes." The person on the other side replied. Grayson flinched and his jaw clenched: "Bats, you can't just retain that kind of information to yourself"

"Would it have changed anything?" batman asked: "Would you have been able to prevent it from happening?"

Grayson was caught off guard: "I-!" he started but he didn't have time to counter before batman continued: "From what you've said, I understand that Ecli pushed Damian away out of her own free will. Judging by the situation, you wouldn't have been able to stop her unless you were able to stop the fight. Something you were obviously uncapable of doing." And with that said he hung up.

Grayson thew the phone along with himself on the sofa. He pressed the palms of his hands on his closed eyes and exhaled, exasperated. There were a lot of questions he would like answered. Unfortunately, other than the irritating, unfairly right, old bat the only other person who held said answers was currently locked in her room, probably more traumatised than she already was.

* * *

Damian was typing on the computer when Kori came in: "What are you doing in my room?"

Damian ignored her and continued typing. "We have rules, Damian" she said walking towards him and closing the laptop shut: "You never trespass another person's space!"

Damian raised his hand and held his chin with his thumb and forefinger: "You have nothing on her… no background, no history"

"On who?" she asked.

"Ecli. You're the leader of this group" Damian said indicating Kori with his hand: "you should know everything about her, it's called vetting"

"She's ten. No mother, an abusive father and she was recently involved in human-mutants experimentation." Kori said.

"I admit that we don't know much about her but by what batman said and what we do know: she needs help and a home"

Damian's eyes narrowed as she finished: "What does my father have to do with her?"

Kori inhaled as if asking for patience. Of course, he'd get stuck on that particular information: "If you must know," she said crossing her arms: "he was the one who found Ecli and brought her here"

She could see the gears turning in Damian's head as he processed this information: "Tsk" he said as he started to walk past her to exit the room with a destination in mind.

* * *

"Come on, guys!" Garfield said to Rachel and Jaime as the two did their best to ignore the rolling green cat on the floor. "You can't tell me you're not curious about what happened back there"

"As a matter of fact, we never said that" Rachel said never opening her eyes as she sat on a mat on a meditative pose.

"We just think that we, seeing as we barely know her, don't have the rights to ask her any questions…yet." Jaime finished as he typed on his laptop. "Well" Garfield drawled: "this seems like the perfect time to get to know her to me" he said expectantly looking at the two who kept on going about their business.

Seeing the lack of reaction, he continued: "Come on!" he whined: "Please?" he asked putting his front paws on Rachel's leg while giving her puppy dog eyes (despite being a cat, at the moment). Rachel opened one eye to look at Garfield. She sighed. "We'll only try once" she said as she got up. Jaime closed his laptop and followed Rachel and Garfield, the latter wearing a big smile on his human face. They walked through the corridor, took the elevator and walked some more to finally reach Ecli's room.

* * *

"Why do I have to do it?" Garfield asked turning towards his friends.

"Because this was your idea" "You were the one who insisted on going here" Jaime and Rachel said at the same time. Garfield pouted at his friends. He turned around away from them and then looked at the door. He was about to knock when he heard Kori.

"Damian, wait!" she said as she hurried her steps to catch up to his fast pace: "You can't just barge in there and interrogate her. She might not be ready!"

The other three, after hearing this, looked at each other guiltily. Garfield most of all. Slowly they started to back away, trying to leave the almost/possible scene of crime or at the very least scene of inappropriate, and now that they think about it, inconsiderate actions.

"What's going on here?" they heard from behind. Turning around they saw Grayson looking at them, puzzled, with his arms crossed. Before they could reply they heard a loud and distressed: "Mom!" coming from Ecli's room.

Quickly, Grayson typed in the security code for the door and rushed into the room flanked by Kori. The scene that they came by was that of a tear and sweat drenched little girl reaching out with her palm open, desperate.

Almost by instinct the two adults held on to that hand. Ecli's eyes slowly opened after a while. She sat up. "Ecli…" Kori said as she pulled her into a hug. Ecli hugged her back and before she knew it, she was wailing. Grayson put a hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it with one hand while the other hugged Kori. The other titans all stood there not knowing what to do.

After a few minutes the wailing stopped. All the titans except for Damian, who remained standing by the door, were near Ecli now: Rachel rubbing circles on her back while the other two just tried to convey to her that they were there if she needed them. Grayson and Kori were still holding her hand even after she finished crying.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Grayson asked. Ecli looked around the room. She looked at the people near her. Talk, huh? She never even considered that idea, didn't want to, back when…

She gulped.

"I need help" she rasped out. Damian snorted, rolling his eyes. Everyone turned towards him and glared. Ecli looked at him and chuckled lightly: "That obvious, huh?" she asked with a small, tired smile tugging at her lips.

Everyone's gaze turned back to Ecli: "What do you need us to do?" Grayson asked looking at Ecli like he was ready to do anything to make her feel better. Rachel, Garfield, Jaime and Kori had the same look on their face, though at varying degrees. Even though she was the one who asked for it, Ecli somehow felt uncomfortable with their eagerness to help her.

It was strange. She had never asked for someone's help on something so personal. Something that required her to strip herself bare of all the armour and masks she'd learnt to put on and carry through the years.

She opened her mouth to say something as the silence that stretched on was making things a little awkward. Then she felt it: some sort of presence trying to come inside her mind. She groaned, gripping her hair with both hands as she hunched over, touching the mattress with her forehead.

"Ecli!" said the group as they tried to reach on to her; even Damian moved from where he was perched on the door to come closer.

She looked up and everyone froze. Her eyes were all black like before. She looked behind her, her neck twisting in an unnatural way.

The door closed suddenly.

Ecli smiled at Rachel: "Sister" she said with a happy voice but there was something sinister behind it.

Rachel jerked back, pulling her hand away from Ecli's back as if she got burnt: "We missed you, sister" Ecli said and it was as if the entire tower got shrouded in darkness because suddenly, looking outside the window, all they could see was a black sky.

The silhouettes on the floor and on the walls that they previously thought of as shadows started to move, circling the perimeter of the room.

From these "shadows" emerged creatures big and hulking, their skin red, their faces adorned with four ruby eyes: "He wants you" they said to Rachel in unison with their deep and raspy voices.

"Rachel, what's going on?" Kori asked as everyone went near one another, automatically taking on a fighting stance. The girl in question looked at Kori with panicked eyes, darting from her leader to the creatures and back.

"He wants you, sister" the creatures repeated as one of them approached Rachel from behind, extending its hand.

Rachel turned around, the panic in her eyes replaced by fear: "Don't touch me!" she said blasting the creature off and as if flicking a switch, chaos erupted in the room.

The creatures and Ecli attacked. Blasts of energy, as well as kicks and punches, flew around the bedroom trying, in the meantime, to avoid Ecli and hit only the creatures. During the fight Raven kept on avoiding the questioning eyes of her teammates or, in Damian's case, a look of pure suspicion. It didn't take them too long to defeat the creatures and immobilize Ecli: Beast boy grabbing on to her as a gorilla while trying not to deal any damage.

"Uhm, what are we supposed to do with her?" he said as the girl struggled and growled in his grasp.

"Ecli?" Grayson said hesitantly as he reached out a hand to touch her. A hand that he withdrew just in time as the girl tried to bite it. "Oookay" Jaime drawled as Kori helped him up from the floor.

"Any Ideas?" Kori asked as she steadied Jaime while he staggered towards Grayson.

"Why don't we ask the witch girl over here" Damian said pointing at Rachel: "Whatever possessed Hale seemed to know _her_" he finished, his voice laced with unrelenting suspicion. Everyone looked at Raven who went still as a statue, the only movement signalling that she wasn't frozen was the clenching of her fists.

Hesitantly, she walked towards Ecli who was still snarling and raised her hands which trembled lightly under the piercing gaze of everyone in the room. Careful not to get bitten, Raven touched Ecli's temple. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She envisioned her consciousness pushing away that of her "brother" from the little girl's mind: "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she said and a black smoke came out of Ecli's mouth.

Raven's knees gave in as tears streamed down her cheeks. Ecli went limp in Garfield's arms.

* * *

I'm just doing my "job" of writing this story while trying to follow some sort of logic so why do I feel like a fun sucking vampire?

This was supposed to replace the _fun_ fair scene that was in the movie. Obviously they didn't go to the fair in this universe and Raven is currently under a lot of suspicion. Ecli's presence has started to make small changes in this world, changes that aren't necessarily good.


End file.
